1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a part mounting structure for mounting a part to a predetermined panel using a clip with one touch. The inventive structure is useful for internal and exterior parts of automobiles such as a trim piece.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional part mounting structure is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-177607 (1991).
In the conventional mounting structure, a part such as a trim piece has a projection integrally formed with and extending from its rear surface. The trim piece is mounted to a panel in which a mounting hole has been formed using a U-shaped metal clip. A rib wall is formed integrally on both side edges of the projection, and a projection is formed on a side surface of the projection between the rib walls. Meanwhile, a pair of spring pieces, which are projected upward and elastically latched with the edge of the mounting hole of the panel, are notched in a central portion of both the walls of the metal clip. A pair of return-preventing claws, which are slanted in a downward and inward direction, are formed so as to be bent on an upper portion of both the side walls where flanges exist.
According to this mounting structure, since a part can be mounted to a panel by utilizing an elastic force of a metal clip, this structure has an advantage that a properly firm mounting state is ensured. On the contrary, in the case where a panel is made of a metal material such as an iron plate, when a metal clip was pushed into the panel, an unpleasant sound typically occurred because of the rubbing contact between the mounting hole of the metal panel and the metal clip.
For this reason, in the present field, various resin clips has been attempted to be used instead of the metal clip. However, the resin clips only provide an inferior security for mounting compared with the metal clips. Therefore, using resin clips includes the shortcoming that the part becomes unexpectedly unstable due to the insufficient mounting force, or in some cases, the mounted part may slip out of the panel.